Nithio
Awarded to funders deploying capital to support impact projects. Pension funds, endowments, corporations, banks, governments, development finance institutions, high net-worth individuals and public funders are eligible for consideration. The award highlights funders with an innovative funding approach, either as a provider of catalytic capital or a third party investor deploying capital into an innovative structure.
Nithio is an innovative asset manager that harnesses the power of AI to address a critical gap in climate finance – supporting climate-focused SMEs that are often overlooked by traditional lenders. These enterprises typically face barriers such as perceived high risk due to limited data, high transaction costs relative to the small size of their projects and financing solutions that are misaligned with their actual needs. Nithio’s AI-driven platform tackles these challenges head-on by assessing credit risk with a proprietary engine that integrates local, socioeconomic, demographic and anonymised customer repayment data. This enables more accurate predictions of repayment likelihood, smarter capital allocation and real-time performance tracking.
At the core of its investment approach is FAIR – the Facility for Adaptation, Inclusion and Resilience – a blended finance vehicle providing structured debt for clean energy solutions. Through this vehicle, the firm combines catalytic capital with commercial investment to unlock funding for high-impact, underfunded markets. By embedding machine learning and geospatial data into
its underwriting processes, the firm delivers granular, scalable insights that reduce investment risk while ensuring financing flows to solutions aligned with both borrower needs and climate resilience that are goals.
An innovative solution
FAIR helps close a major financing gap for small, climate-focused SMEs, particularly local clean energy distributors serving lastmile communities. These SMEs, which Nithio categorises as Tier 2 and Tier 3 borrowers with annual revenues under $25m, make up 64% of its current portfolio.
By combining machine learning and geospatial data, Nithio strengthens its underwriting process to make better investment decisions that match financing to borrower needs. This approach reduces risk for commercial investors while ensuring funds support sustainable and clean energy solutions.
Delivering impact
Nithio tracks its impact in real time by integrating with the customer management systems of its borrowers.
So far, Nithio FAIR has supported energy access for nearly 495,000 people, helped avoid over 1.7m metric tonnes of CO2 emissions, reached more than 23,000 businesses and deployed over 17,000 clean cookstoves. A recent investment in Altech, a clean energy company in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is set to grow this impact. Altech plans to deploy 1m solar systems by 2030, reaching 50m people, saving $2bn in customer energy costs, installing 5,000 solar water points, avoiding 3m metric tonnes of CO2 emissions, protecting 1m hectares of forest and creating over 300,000 jobs.
Managing risk
Nithio’s investment strategy is underpinned by a robust risk management framework designed to reflect the distinct characteristics of both the market and the underlying business
model. Operating in emerging markets presents a range of financial, operational and macroeconomic risks, which are addressed through a data-driven, adaptive approach that leverages advanced analytics and real-time data insights.
To mitigate credit risk – particularly when dealing with borrowers who may lack extensive credit histories – the strategy incorporates analysis of historical patterns and behavioural data to assess repayment capacity. This enables the tailoring of financing terms to better align with the individual risk profiles of borrowers, thereby reducing the likelihood of default.
Market and concentration risk are managed through geographic diversification. The approach includes a deliberate expansion beyond initial focus markets to a wider set of countries, reducing exposure to country specific economic fluctuations.
On the capital management front, the investment vehicle is structured to provide flexibility in both fundraising and deployment, helping to navigate timing mismatches between capital inflows, loan repayments and disbursements. This enables more responsive investment activity in line with evolving market conditions.
Ongoing portfolio monitoring supports dynamic capital allocation decisions, ensuring that liquidity and performance are maintained through a combination of targeted analytics, diversification and agile risk management practices.
Catalysing capital
Structured as a Dutch limited company, FAIR currently manages $47m in committed capital from a broad coalition of investors, including development finance institutions such as the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), FMO and IFU; philanthropic funders like The Schmidt Family Foundation and Shell Foundation; and sector focused entities such as EDFI and FSD Africa.
These partners contribute a mix of equity, concessional capital and senior debt, allowing it to serve as a bridge between mission-driven and market-oriented capital.
To date, the vehicle has deployed $31.7m across 15 investments, demonstrating strong market demand and a clear path toward revenue growth. Its increasing assets under management reflect growing investor confidence in the model, while ongoing enhancements to lending systems and new strategic partnerships position the firm to expand its capital base and reinforce its long-term financial sustainability.
Scaling up
Nithio has evolved its business model to support sustainable growth and impact across sub-Saharan Africa. Initially focused on Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria, it has since expanded into 17 additional countries to diversify risk and reach more investment-ready borrowers. At the same time, the FAIR platform broadened its scope beyond solar home systems to include off-grid appliances, e-mobility, clean cooking and other productive-use assets. Its AI-driven credit tools enable responsible expansion into these sectors by standardising credit assessments and managing risk effectively.
FAIR benefits from a diverse investor base – including DFIs, commercial investors and impact funders – and leverages a proprietary Risk Analytics Engine to deliver real-time insights across asset types. This allows the platform to finance a wider range of pay-over-time products, such as those in microfinance and agriculture, while strengthening financial sustainability.
What began as a specialised SHS finance vehicle is now a flexible investment platform advancing clean energy access, financial inclusion and economic resilience across multiple markets. Nithio continues to address challenges such as financial sustainability, regulatory complexity and higher costs associated with smaller distributors by refining its AI models, financial structures and
affordability solutions.
Through the integration of advanced technology, blended finance and strong partnerships, FAIR is expanding sustainably. Real-time credit and impact tracking help build investor confidence, attract capital and create a more efficient, responsive financing ecosystem, supported by local collaboration
and deep sector expertise.
An iterative evolution
The evolution of its approach reflects Nithio’s recognition that addressing climate finance challenges requires both innovation and adaptability. The company embraces the fact that its model is iterative – constantly improving tools, refining processes and deepening its understanding of market needs. Today, Nithio’s Risk Analytics Engine supports more than 30 companies, has screened over 10m households and analysed more than 100m payment transactions. Through this journey, Nithio has grown from a data platform into a catalytic investment and analytics firm, committed to closing the climate finance gap and enabling inclusive, scalable solutions for clean energy access.
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